A THIEF finally exhausted the patience of the courts after he was caught shoplifting in Middlesbrough town centre.

Robert Kelly was jailed for his fourth breach of a suspended sentence, imposed last January for burgling a home.

In the following months the 28-year-old kept re-offending but kept his freedom.

His suspended sentence continued despite convictions for possessing heroin, amphetamine and cannabis, being drunk and disorderly and failing to comply with orders.

The last straw came when he was arrested for stealing a £21 coat from Primark in the Hillstreet shopping centre and a £20 bed warmer from Clinton Cards on December 7. Kelly, of Victoria Road, Middlesbrough, said he wanted to buy Christmas gifts for his two children.

With 17 previous offences, he admitted the thefts and breaching a suspended sentence and conditional discharge.

Penny Bottomley, defending, said Kelly’s latest crimes were less serious and he had completed more than 160 hours of unpaid work in the sentence.

She said Kelly cared for his grandmother who had epilepsy.

Judge Peter Bowers said: “I’m afraid the time has come when the court has got to activate the suspended sentence.”

Jailing Kelly for nine months, he added: “This is your fourth breach of that sentence and this is the third package of offences since last January.”